Knitted undergarment



Patented. ct. 7,A l19239 eric KNITTED UNDERGARMENT Charles R. Coppel, New Hartford, and Bert Morse and Vernon D. Riseley, Herkimer, N. Y., assgnors to Duofold Inc., Mohawk, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application February 17, 1938, Serial No. 191,076 6 claims. (c1. z-'zan give a supporting elect in the crotch without to the point marked I2. The crotch piece can be @s the use of rubber fabric. Itis characteristic of unitary with the bodyof the garment at the back. this invention that the garment contains crossed It is attached to the body at the front in the strips of comparatively inelastic material to give following manner. The front end of the crotch the supporting effect. member is the shape of an inverted V, with In the drawings, convex sides I3, and the body of the garment is le) Fig, 1 is a front view of an athletic shorts permanently attached to each of these convex garment embodying the new invention; sides. This attachment extends downwardly Fig. 2 is a back View of the 'garment of Fig. l, along these convex sides to the points I4 on the with the seat broken away to show the novel leg openings 8. The garment includes two novel l5 shield structure; cross braces or tapes I'I attached to the belt at l Fig. 3 is `a. View in horizontal cross section points I8, 28, which are spaced laterally from through the ily opening and shield, taken on the the vcenter part way to the side of the garment. line 3-3 of Fig. 1; These tapes cross each other at the point i2 and Fig. 4 is a front view of a pair of short drawers extend downwardly below this crossing point embodying the invention; while along the convex edges i3 of the crotch member 20 Fig. 5 is a view in vertical cross section through to the leg openings 8. They are preferably the middle of the garment of Fig. 4, from front stitched tothe knitted fabricthr'oughout their to rear, taken on the line 5 5 of that gure. length and also, at their upper ends, to the belt.

In undergarments such as union suits, drawers In this embodiment of the invention the leg or athletic shorts, it is frequently desirable that openings have a hem I5 extending all the way 25 the garment afford a supporting laction at the around. This hem is less elastic than the body crotch and that that be done. without the use of of'the garment, due to the crossing of the wales rubber fabric in the crotch. It has been known of the folded vand unfolded portions, but in addiheretofore to incorporate an inelastic tape in tion there is preferably provided an elastic IE knitted underdrawers from the front center of extending all the way around the leg opening in- 30 the belt downwardly to the upper end of the side the hem. This elastic can be seen-where crotch member of the garment. In that conthe hem is broken away on the right side in Fig. struction there is a direct downward pull on the y 1. It tends to keep the leg openings constricted center front ofthe garment which tends to pull and to assist in the supporting function.

the garment out of position and destroy the sup- When the garment is put on, the expansion of 35 porting action. In such prior garments fly openthe belt tends to pull apart the upper ends of the ings have sometimes been made along one of the two tapes. This lifts the intersection point I2 slanting upper edges of the crotch member, but of the tapes in'a vertical direction, which tightens the downward pull above-mentioned tends to the crotch member. The portions of the tapes 40 make such fly openings gape. The invention belowthe intersection pull upwardly on the leg 40 about to be described avoids all these diiiiculties openings, and with the aid of the .elastics I6 and provides amuch more eicientsupporting of pull the edges of the crotch member tight. It the crotch. might further be noted that any tendency of the The invention will rst be described embodied elastics -IG in the leg openings to pull the crotch i'n the athletic type of shorts shown in Figs. l, 2 member laterally so as toilatten it unnecessarily 45 and 3. 'I'he garment has the usual main body is resisted to a desirable extent by the cross brace portion 1 extending all the way around the garrelation of the tapes. With this construction it ment at the belt line and forming the upper half will be observed that any downward pull on the of each of the leg openings 8. There is a belt 9 garment exerted by the body at the crotch por- 5()v extending around the entire top of the garment, tion will be distributed in a particularly desirable 50 which belt preferably is made of rubber or other manner. Thus, if the front of the crotch memsimilarly elastic material. When the garment is ber tends to pull downwardly due to the conworn, this belt is adapted to encircle the waist formation of the body, the strain is distributed of the wearer above the hip bones. The crotch from the crossing I2 of the tapes laterally in.

portion I0 of the garment consists of knitted each direction to the points I8, 28 of the attach- 55 This invention relates to'knitted undergarments and more particularly to union suits, drawers and shorts. One object of the invention is to produce a knitted undergarment which will fabric. It is the portion of the garment extending between the legs of the wearer, from the seam II at the back of the garment (Fig. 2) through the legs and up the front of the garment ment of the tapes to the belt. The components of stress toward the center of the garment thus created tend to drawthe belt tighter over the wearers hips but do not disarrange the garment by any direct downward pull,.nor is there any particular stress downwardly on the center of the belt, which is the point most apt to slip.

Preferably the garment also includes a. shield 20 I (Fig. 2), which is shown as part of the body 'l of little at the seam lines and fold the lower edge up to create a hem. This leaves the lower edge of the shield a short distance above the line joining the points where the tapes meet the leg openings. The garment can have a fly opening 22, as shown Ain Figs. 1 and 2, extending from the intersection I2 of the tapes downwardly to a point opposite the intersection of the tapes and the leg -usual (Fig. 3).

openings. It can be formed in the usual manner with overlapping hem or thickened portions, as With this arrangement the lower end of the fly opening extends a short distance below the hem 2| of the shield, but the rest of it -is in front of the shield. AThe distance from the y opening laterally to the points'where the hem 2| of the shield is attached to the tapes and the sides i3 of the crotch member is'sufllcient to pro vide the necessary access without exposure of the body. It has been found that byfastening the convex edges of the front of the crotch member directly to the body portion of the garment throughout the length of the sides, by locating the cross rbracing tapes on these sides and by having the continuous fabric of the shield extending across the upper end of the crotch member and stitched to the tapes and other material on both sides of the crotch member, a structure is formed which resists undue lateral expansion or other interference with the supporter effect. Thus the stitching in of the shield strengthens the tapes Y and helps them resist the lateral components of movement below the intersection point i2, while the plain fabric above that intersection permits the point to rise when the garment is put on the body.

In Figs` 4 and 5 we. have shown lour invention embodied in the athletic` type of drawers with square cut legs. The garment has the same belt 9 and the same y opening 22, but the other portions of the garment are different. It contains the same basic methodof functioning to provide support and keep it in place on the body. The body 23 of the garment may be made of one or morepieces sufficient to form an entire garment except for the crotch portion 24. In this case it .will be noted (Fig. 5) that the crotch opening extends from the front of the garment only to the vertical median line 25 inside the legs, and is section iii at the upper end of the crotch member.

The supporting effect is needed only from the seam 25 forward. It will be observed that the edges of the crotch portion have comparatively inelastic strips along them throughout the parts 'where the supporting effect is desired and con-- garment and will not create wrinkles in the seat of the garment. It will be noted that with this construction there is a tightness of the crotch member at the edges thereof, and a baglike formation occurs which is particularly suitable for the supporting action.

` It has been found that the cross brace structure above described distributes the strain of the pull more evenly and can afford more supporting effect than previous garments. Furthermore the belt is a rm anchorage owing to the manner in which the tapes are incorporated in the garment, and there is no tendency for the garment to be displaced. It should also be noted that the mere act of putting the garment on creates a supporting effect. This automatic creation of the supporting tension is found not only in the preferred form of Figs. 4 and 5, but also in Figs. 1 and 2.

The cooperative relation of the-parts is vsuch that there is no tendency for the ily opening to gape, and in any case the shield which cooperates in keeping the crotch member and ily opening in undistorted relation provides an 'extra thickness of cloth to cover the crotch of the wearer and yet not interferewith the use of the y opening. It will be obvious, of course, that a garment containing the supporting effect and shield can be made without the fly opening.

Many modifications which do not depart from the scope of our invention will occur to those skilled in the' art.

What we claim is: y

l. An undergarment of knitted fabric, compris-- ing a body member, a crotch member attached thereto and extending partway up the front of the garment, and a belt around the body member, in combination with two inelastic tapes attached to the belt at the front at points spaced oppositely from the center, said tapes extending downwardly and crossing below the, belt and being attached along the edges of the crotch member, and fabric forming a shield lying inside the front part of the crotch member and attached to the tapes at both sides of the center line below the tape crossing.

2. Knitted drawers comprising a body member, a crotch member and a belt, the crotch member extending upwardly in front toward but not reaching the belt, the upper portion of said crotch member being split vertically to form a iiy opening, the body of the garment extending downwardly inside the upper end of the crotch memberand overlapping the major portion of the fly opening and attached to' the crotch member on both sides of the fly opening.

3. Knitted drawers comprising a body member,

^ an elastic belt extending around the top of the'k garment, a crotch member attached to the body member and extending part way up the front of the-garment, said crotch member having a vertical y opening, in combination with fabric in' side the crotch member extending downwardly from the upper end thereof and ending not lower than the bottom o f the y opening, said fabric being attached to the edges of the crotch member opposite the ily opening, whereby a shield is formed, and two inelastic tapes acting as cross bracing-and having their crossing attached to the upper end of the crotch member below the belt, the upper ends of the tapes being attached to the front end of the crotchA member, said crotch member having a vertical ily opening, in combination with two inelastic tapes crossing the v front of the garment at a point below the belt, the upper ends of the tapes being attached to the belt at points on opposite sides of the cen- 4 ter front of the garment and the lower portions thereof extending downwardly along the edges of the crotch member and attached to the crotch member, the body member and the shield below the crossing, whereby a structure resisting undue lateral expansion opposite the crotch and giving a supporting etl'ect to the edges of the crotch at the front"of the garment is formed.

5. An undergarment of knitted fabric, comprising a body member, a crotch member attached thereto and extending part way up the front of the garment, and a belt around' the body member, in combination with two comparatively inelastic tapes attached to the belt at the front at points 'spaced oppositely from the center and extending downwardly and joining at the top of the crotch member, the upper portion of said crotch member being split vertically to form a fly opening, and fabric forming a shield lying inside the front part of the crotch member, there also being comparatively inelastic means attached along each edge of the crotch member and the shield, whereby a supporting eiiect is given to the ily.

6.v An undergarment 'of knitted fabric, comprising a body member, a crotch member attached thereto and extending part way up the front of the garment, and a belt around the body member, in combination with two comparatively inelastic tapes attached to the belt at the front at points spaced oppositely from the center and. extending downwardly and joining at the top of the crotch member, the upper portion of said crotch member being split vertically to form a y opening,`

and fabric forming a shield for said ily opening extending downwardly inside the crotch member and overlapping the major portion of the fly opening, there also being comparatively inelastic means `attached along each edge of the crotch member and the shield.

CHARLES R. coPPEL. BERT MORSE. VERNON D. RIsELEY. 

